Josh Davis
Olympic Gold Medalist

• Winner of five Olympic medals in swimming, US Men’s Relay Team
• Three gold medals, two silver medals
• Pan American Champion in men’s 400 meter freestyle
• Only man at Atlanta Olympics to win 3 gold medals
• American and world record holder

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, as I stared down my lane to lead off the U.S. 4x200 freestyle relay, the thought crossed my mind that 4 hours of swimming each day for 10 years—a total of 25,000 miles—now came down to one moment in time.  The starter's gun released me, and I led off the relay with a lifetime best! My early lead got the rest of the team pumped up, and in the end, we won by over a body length! The joy and relief we felt was indescribable. The intense satisfaction of accomplishing a lifelong dream in front of a home crowd and of coming together with my relay mates in perfect execution was a high I had never felt before.

When I woke up the next morning, all the excitement, all the hype, all the adrenaline … it was all gone! Granted, I was still living in the Olympic Village, eating the free food, and looking forward to some more races, but the mood was drastically different from the night before.  I had finally tasted the best the world had to offer, and it was sweet … but oh, so short! Having had a taste of glory, I now felt empty. It was sobering to experience the shock of a high so high followed by a low so low.

I looked for encouragement and perspective in God's Word, turning to 1 Peter 1:7: "Your faith … [is] of greater worth than gold." I found comfort in the knowledge that my relationship with Jesus is infinitely more valuable and more precious than gold. Matthew 6:19-21 adds these words: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I realized then that my medal wouldn't last forever, but it was good to know that there is something that will.

These days, when I give motivational speeches at schools, I pass my gold medal around the room so each student can hold it or wear it. I always enjoy watching the reactions of the children: Their eyes get big as they "ooh" and "ahh." Several people over the years have accidentally dropped my medal, and it is dented and scratched. Meanwhile, my cool monogrammed Olympic suitcase is falling apart, my Olympic towels are starting to unravel, and some of my Olympic clothes have bleach stains.

This wear and tear reminds me that, eventually, everything material in this world will fall apart. God's Word reminds us that there are only three eternal things: God, his Word, and the souls of men and women. And when we invest our lives accordingly, by serving God and others in and through his love, we are storing up gold medals in heaven that will last forever.

I still smile when I watch the tape of my team winning—but not as much as I do when I discover someone has committed his or her life to Christ. While only a few know what it's like to win an Olympic medal, the experience will pale in comparison to the awards ceremony that awaits us in heaven. That's a promise straight from Scripture: We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

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David Ragan
NASCAR Star

• 2007 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year
• Drives #6 UPS car for NASCAR Sprint Cup series (Roush Fenway team)
• 2008 Sprint Cup Series: finished 13th, 17 top ten finishes
• 2008 Nationwide Series: finished 4th, 29 top ten finishes

Dad is the number-one reason why I am where I am today. He's helped pave a road for me where I could work hard and continue to get better. He and my uncle Marvin, his brother, through their racing adventures in the late '80s and early '90s, met a lot of great people who have helped me out through the years. Robert Yates, a person who helped my dad out when he was racing, helped supply engines for my ARCA team for the past few years and really helped me out when times were tough. So the people who knew Dad have helped me out a lot, and I certainly need to go out and get the job done, but he's definitely introduced me to the right people who have helped me along the way.

(My advice to others is--) Never give up. It's hard enough to make it in this sport, and if you feel like you've got the talent, there's an opportunity to go and drive somewhere. But you've got to dedicate one hundred percent of your time. You can't just do it half the time. You've got to eat, breathe, and sleep racing. You've got to cut out school activities, family activities, and things around the house. You've got to be at the race shop or doing something working toward racing 100 percent of the time. It's tough, and a lot of nights you sit back and think, Man, why am I doing this?Or, This is hard, or I feel like giving up, but you just can't ever give up because you don't know when you'll get that opportunity

Excerpted from stockcarracing.com

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